The need to raise money had another unfortunate side effect: the relentless rise of criminal politicians. Voters in most countries would shun candidates whose background came with hints of criminality. But in India, parties like the BJP and the Congress actively recruit such candidates. Roughly one-fifth of MPs elected in 2014 had “serious” criminal records, ranging from kidnapping and racketeering to murder, nearly double the rate ten years earlier.24 Rather than turn against them, voters often took violence and extortion as perverse signs of strength; a signal that a criminal politician
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BANANAS
